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cannot send offline chat message

Wed, 30/01/2008 - 18:35 — adipose

When a buddy has signed off, and you have the chat window open, you can send them a message will show up in their chat window the next time they log on. However, if you do not have the chat window open, you have no way to open it. Instead, it opens the 'message' window, which sends them a 'message' rather than a chat message. If you right click on the signed off buddy, your only option is 'Message.'

It seems rather trivial to allow sending a chat message to a signed off buddy, but there is no way to open the window if it is not already open. It seems like an inconsistency to allow this kind of messaging, but not provide an interface to begin this kind of messaging.

Perhaps, a right click option could be added to start this kind of chat with an offline buddy. Frankly, I think it should be the default behavior when double clicking, as well (especially since I have checked the box that says 'Chat on double click instead of message').

I realize that you can't actually chat if someone isn't online, but that doesn't really matter if they can receive offline chat messages.

If this behavior could become default or at least a checkbox option, that would be awesome.

Well, that's an interface decision. Chat messages are meant to get a (semi) real time response from your contact. This is not possible when the contact is offline. Normal messages should be compared to email in the sense that it doesn't matter when your contact answers your message. In that way it would be inconsistent to allow chat messages to offline contacts. Hope you get the philosophy behind Coccinella. :-) Note also that it's the long term plan to improve this separation even more so that Coccinella can become a replacement for old school email which is still popular amongst lots of people.